Widnes Vikings scrum-half Rhys Hanbury has revealed that his flight from the UK to his homeland Australia seemed to be in danger when the plane encountered engine problems while in the air.
The 27-year-old had been in the air for 20 minutes when an announcement was made claiming that something had malfunctioned in the third engine.
"To be honest, it was all a bit of a shock to the system and like something you see in the movies and never expect to happen to you, in real life," said Hanbury.
"At first, we presumed it was nothing more than a passing thunder cloud until the realisation that it was something far more sinister kicked in, and we saw a series of sparks coming from one of the engines!
"The staff were all pretty calm though which was reassuring and as soon as they managed to shut down the damaged motor, it continued to fly as normal because the other three engines were unaffected."
Hanbury was one of 380 passengers on board the flight.
